Gerald Stansbury, president of the Maryland State Converence of the NAACP reacts to this bill. Download This File

Senate Minority Leader David Brinkley sits on the Finance Committee and voted agianst the minimum wage bill. Download This File

An increase in Maryland's minimum wage cleared what supporters say was a major hurdle on Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

The vote was 7-4, sending the bill to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Thursday, and likely the Senate floor by Friday.

Supporters, including Governor Martin O'Malley, are hoping the final bill clears the House and Senate by the time the legislative session ends on Monday night. The governor has told lawmakers that raising the minimum wage to $10.10-an-hour is his top priority for this year.

In a statement released through his office, the governor praised the committee vote.

“We’ve worked hard to forge consensus and bring people together in order to achieve progress for middle class families by giving Maryland a raise,” O'Malley said in the statement.

The Senate bill is the product of weeks of negotiations between Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mac Middleton, and the O'Malley Administration.

Middleton had wanted to link the minimum wage increase, to an increase in the state's subsidy that pays personal care aides for the severely disabled. That subsidy is currently $9.62-an-hour, and if the minimum wage were increased to $10.10-an hour, an estimated 20,000 workers would likely earn less than the minimum wage.

The bill would raise that reimbursement by 4% in January, 2015, and then 3.5% annually through 2019.

Middleton says that would mean these workers would earn 30% above the minimum wage.

The bill would phase in the minimum wage increase over a four year period, with the minimum wage rising to $10.10-an-hour by July, 2018. The minimum wage which now stands at $7.25-an hour would go up to $8-an-hour in January, then $8.25-an-hour in July, 2015, $8.75-an-hour in July, 2016, and $9.25-an hour in July, 2017.

The Senate bill phases in the minimum wage increase over a longer period than under a bill proposed by the governor, which did it in two years or a bill approved in the House last month which phases the increase in over a three year period.

Like the House bill, the Senate bill does not increase the minimum wage for tipped workers, keeping it at the current $3.63-an hour, which is half of the current minimum wage. Governor O'Malley had wanted to increase the wage for tipped workers to 70% of the minimum wage. He also wanted to tie future increases in the minimum wage to the inflation rate. The House and Senate removed that language from the bill.

Matt Hanson, campaign director of the group Raise Maryland, which is pushing for the minimum wage increase, said he has "mixed feelings" about the bill.

He noted the bill does not contain an increase in wages for tipped workers who often are women, and who live below the poverty line.

Hanson says his group will work to change the bill as it moves through the legislative process.

Roll Call of Committee Vote

Seven members of the committee voted in favor of the bill. All are Democrats. They are John Astle, Brian Feldman, Delores Kelly, Kathy Klausmeier, Catherine Pugh, Victor Ramirez and Committee Chairman Mac Middleton.

Four members of the committee, one Democrat and three Republicans, voted against the bill. They are Democrat Jim Mathias, and Republicans David Brinkley, Barry Glassman and Allan Kittleman.